Tinkering
by theonlywater
Summary: The Doctor finds himself in trouble in the TARDIS. Lucky for him, Rory and Amy are on board to help out. He never could fix the heating.   Oneshot. Takes place after The Doctor's Wife. Eleven!Whump. Slight series 6 spoilers. Rated T to be safe.


A/N- This is my first fanfic, hope you like. I know It's not great, just go with it.

Thanks to Cooper-Gwen for Beta-ing this. It really helped. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, or any of it's characters or themes. I'm just a fan.

-oOo-

Rory awoke to hear the sound of pained yelling.

Looking to his left, he was relieved to find his wife Amy fast asleep and unharmed- but the screams and yelps were still echoing down the now darkened corridors, and close by. Quickly, he slipped out of bed, pulling on a white tee and adjusting his shorts before walking softly to the door so as not to wake Amy.

Not that she was a light sleeper- in fact, she slept like a log... Even when she fell out the top bunk that time. He winced at the memory. He was glad those were gone.

He stopped when he reached the door, turning back to gaze at her affectionately, until another yelp of pain snapped him back to the cold corridor. Closing the bedroom door behind him, he hurried after the disturbance, knowing it would only be the Doctor who could make that much noise.

Eventually, he stepped out onto the main control rooms upper level, the TARDIS humming warmly as he searched for the source of the disruption. As he descended the steps, a strained cry of "Rory!" led him right to the Doctor, who was under the glass floor, tangled up in a mess of wires, his limbs splayed out at awkward, and evidently painful angles. Both his hands were behind his back, held there by a large, red and important looking wire. He had also managed to trap his leg in a big bunch of cables coming from the ceiling, meaning his whole body was suspended upside-down, supported only by the coiled web of wiring.

"Um, hello." Rory stated, rather lamely, as the Doctor once again tried desperately to untangle himself, pulling apart a wire in the process. The cable crackled and sent sparks flying so furiously that Rory had to duck to avoid them, but the Doctor got a face full, and yelped in pain. Once he had recovered enough to speak, he looked up and smiled manically. "Rory the Roman! Well, actually, Rory the mechanic would be more helpful just right now, but as there is obviously no chance of that-"  
>"Obviously." Rory cut in, with a bit too much sarcasm for the Doctor's liking.<p>

"Anyway," he continued, "A little help would be nice- in fact, I'd go so far as to say, necessary."  
>"Okay- but, how did you even get in that mess?" The Doctor glared at him for a moment, before resuming the struggle. "Well," Rory caught between small explosions, "Even though that question is unhelpful, and, to be honest, unneeded, it was because I was trying to fix the..." he cast a sulky look at all the wiring, and huffed. "The heating."<p>

Rory almost laughed, as he started to untangle the mess the Doctor had made. "And," the he added "It really hurts." Rory tutted and turned back to the cables, undoing and loosening the Doctors leg. With one last massive tug, the wiring uncoiled, and the Doctor fell on his head with an almighty thump. Rory rushed over to where the Doctor lay, groaning.

"Doctor! Doctor? Are you okay? Doctor! Can you hear me?"  
>"Mmphhh." he mumbled into the floor, before exclaiming loudly, "Of course I'm okay. I'm always okay. In the king of oka- ow."<br>"Right then, Doctor, forgive me if I don't believe you. What's hurting?" Rory asked, as the Doctor tried to sit up, but promptly flopped onto Rory, now kneeling at his side.

"Nothing." he muttered, somewhat moodily. "I'm fine. Aghhh! Still fine."  
>Rory huffed loudly as he lifted the Doctor onto his back, grunting under his weight. "You're heavier than you look, you know." but all the response he got was a couple of moans from the Doctor trying to insist he was fine, while weakly struggling.<p>

Rory headed straight to the med bay, and lay the Doctor down onto the first bed. His eyes were rolling in his head, and Rory could see he was struggling to stay conscious. He also knew the only reason he wasn't succumbing to the blackness was because he didn't want to admit defeat. He could see the pain in his eyes though, so with a sigh, he started to assess the Doctor's condition. As he was taking the sulking man's pulse, and ignoring his mumbling protests the he was okay, Amy walked in to the room, rubbing her eyes.

"What's happened, and why can I never get a decent night's sleep around here?" she asked, going to Rory's side.  
>"The Doctor happened." Rory sighed anxiously, as the man in question groaned in pain, loudly.<br>"Doctor? You okay?" Amy asked worriedly.

"No." he huffed, "_Your_ _husband_ refuses to leave me alone." Quickly, before either of the pair could react, he pushed himself up onto his feet, and toppled into the couple. Rory quickly hauled him up by his waist, setting him back onto the bed.

"Ow. So, I admit, I may have bumped my head. A little. I'll be fine in a minute." And with that, the Doctor passed out.

Amy was first to react, catching him under the arms and lying him down, assisted by Rory. She placed a tender hand on his forehead, which was normally slightly cooler than the average human's. It was hot to touch; he had a fever.

"So, what actually happened?" she asked, turning accusing eyes on her husband.  
>"Wasn't me!" Rory said defensively. "Well, a little bit me." he finished, cringing under his wife's glower. "He was trying to fix the heating-"<br>"The heating." Amy cut in, rolling her eyes.

"_Yes_. He got himself tangled in all the wires- don't ask how- but he was getting electric shocks, and when I yanked him free, he fell... on his head." this was said while he was shining a torch in the now shivering Doctor's eyes, and looking very worried.  
>"So, nurse, what's the verdict?" Amy asked.<p>

"Yeah." Rory muttered, then continued more loudly, "He's got concussion, which isn't surprising, given the fall he took, and the state he's in..."  
>"But...?" Amy questioned, anxiously.<br>"But, he received quite a few big electric shocks, and I'm worried what damage that's done."

Suddenly, the Doctor started to convulse, his breathing becoming rapid and shallow, and his chest heaving up and down. "Amy, help me, he's fitting!" Rory instructed. "Hold his mouth shut." Amy quickly closed his mouth, making sure he didn't hit his head, or bite his tongue, while Rory undid his belt and discarded the bow tie -something the Doctor would not be happy about, he thought wryly- before trying desperately to pin the Doctor's arms to his sides.

His flailing limbs eventually stilled, and the fit subsided. The Doctor's breathing hadn't returned to normal yet though, so Rory set about taking off his jacket, and unbuttoning his shirt. He eventually settled into a feverish slumber, but Rory was still looking pained.

"You did a good job, stupid." Amy said soothingly, moving over to where Rory was standing. He wasn't too sure if he should be pleased, but that was the nearest thing to a compliment Amy was willing to give, so he smiled, and pulled her into a hug, breathing her in, talking softly into her long red hair.

"I think his body's gone into shock, because of the amount of electricity it received." He let her go, looking haggard, and started pacing. "How can I know, though, if he's not even human? I mean, he may look the same as us, but we already know he has two hearts, so-"  
>"Shh."<br>He was silenced by Amy's lips, as they met his, in tender comfort. He tried to pull away, to brood for a while, but Amy's soft hands on his back pulled him in, and so he kissed her deeply, breaking only to rest his forehead on hers, troubled hazel eyes looking into reassuring green ones.

His Amy. She believed in him when he doubted himself, and that gave him the strength to carry on, to try to help, even if he had lost all hope. That's how it had been throughout his entire medical career, and that's how it was now.

He stroked her face lovingly, and muttered a thank you into her hair, and with these reassuring thoughts fresh in his mind, he paced over to where the Doctor was sleeping.

"We can't stop monitoring him when he's like this," Rory started, with more confidence in his tone now, "But neither of us can stay up much longer. We'll have to take turns watching."  
>"Okay, lover boy, I'll sleep first, shall I?" Amy asked with an innocent smile, fluttering her lashes. Rory sighed, but gave into a smile. He wasn't going to win this one.<p>

A good few hours later, Rory was sat at the end of a bed; still watching the Doctor. The last few hours had been fairly uneventful- Amy had fallen asleep in the next bed along, her head in his lap, arms curled around her. She had started softly snoring, and so Rory had eased her out of his lap, and tucked her into one of the beds, safe in the knowledge that she was deeply asleep. Nothing else much had happened, apart from the Doctor muttering softly in his interrupted slumber, something about massive wasps and unicorns. Rory hoped he wasn't delirious.

The night dragged on, and minutes turned into hours as he sat, watching the love of his life and her imaginary friend sleep. He wasn't even sure if this could be called night, on the TARDIS, but he didn't like to think about things like that too much. His life already was too complicated for his liking. Suddenly, the Doctor started twitching. The muttering intensified, his eyes darting about under their lids, and his limbs weakly thrashing about.

Rory rushed over to him, pressing a hand to his forehead and wincing when his skin came into contact with the searing hot flesh. He cooled the Doctor's forehead with a flannel, soothingly whispering to him that it was going to be okay, that everything was fine. Whether or not he believed that himself, he thought darkly, was debatable.

No, he couldn't think like that.

Mentally shaking himself, Rory looked over to Amy, still asleep. She looked so peaceful, and he was reluctant to wake her, but he needed help.  
>"Amy! Amy, I need you!" he called, before hurrying over to her side. He shook her gently, as she started to stir, cracked one eye open, then the other. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was; but when she did, the sleep in her eyes soon disappeared.<p>

"Rory? Is he okay? Tell me he's okay!" She pleaded desperately, hauling herself up and rushing over to where the Doctor lay shivering.  
>"Yes. Well, not really, no…" Rory stammered, desperate not to distress her further. "He will be. But I need you to help me."<br>"I'm here." she said, her tone steady despite the panic so clear in her green eyes.  
>And she was.<p>

Rory quickly stripped the Doctor down, discarding his shirt and trousers on the floor, next to his boots, and ordered Amy to get some wet cloths to cool him down from the dangerously high temperature his body had soared to. As she hurried off, Rory surveyed the ancient man before him. Once so elusive and threatening to him, the Doctor's crumpled body looked small and alarmingly white, and so, so _vulnerable_- nothing protecting him but a thin layer of material. His clammy chest was rising and falling rapidly, and his dark hair fell into his face, limp and lifeless.

And all of a sudden, this man, this brave, heroic, mad, man- the source of all Amy's despair and all his jealously since the age of seven- was not so untouchable anymore. As this man, the oncoming storm, lay there, shivering and so white, the look in his eyes, in that moment, told Rory so much. And he _knew_ he was going to save him.

By the time Amy rushed back with half a dozen flannels more than was necessary from the bathroom, Rory had inserted a drip into the Doctor's hand; to replenish the fluids he had sweated out. He looked very ill, and the hospital type room they were in didn't help with the thought that this was more than just a concussion. Amy was obviously thinking along the same lines, and as her shaking hands passed him a flannel, she whispered "Will you be okay?"

Rory really didn't think the question was meant for his ears, but turned and pulled his wife into a tight hug, regardless. "He'll be fine. We can do this, together. It'll be alright." The hug tightened still as great sobs wracked her thin frame, her weight almost entirely supported by his arms around her. He stood there and held her, knowing that the Doctor would wait, and would be happy to wait, for him to try and fix his broken little Amelia Pond, because he knew full well what had damaged her.

Eventually, her sobs subsided, and with a final shuddering breath, Amy lifted her head from his shoulder, and wiped her eyes on a bit of his shirt that wasn't tear dampened. "Okay. The Doctor." she stated, and he knew what she wanted.  
>For the next couple of days they both sat with him, cooling him with a never ending supply of wet flannels from Amy, and tending to his needs. He had drifted in and out of consciousness for the duration, and Rory had been sure to make him eat in the rare times he was coherent enough to realize who was with him, sitting him up and tipping soup and fluids down his throat.<p>

On these occasions, he would alternate between thanking them, apologizing, insisting he was okay, and telling them not to feed him pears. The latter confused the duo, but they reassured him that they had no intentions of doing that; and this seemed to be enough to soothe the Doctor. He mainly used the short times in between unconsciousness to babble incoherently; Amy heard the phrase 'Rassilon' several times, and Rory could have sworn the Doctor told him that he wanted to mate. They both put it down to his feverish mind conjuring delusions.

Eventually, his fever broke, and both Amy and Rory breathed a sigh of relief and elation, but they also felt something else. Because thinking the Doctor was going to die on them was an all too familiar feeling. Rory mentally pushed away those images of the desert, and the spaceman, and the flames…  
>No. Thinking about it would just dampen this moment, and the triumph he felt, and the joy in his wife's eyes. They had done it. They had saved the Doctor.<p>

Even though they knew he was through the worst, Rory kept at the Doctor's side and monitored his now thankfully peaceful sleep throughout the rest of the night, and in the morning made him some breakfast, pleased he was now well enough to eat solids. When he had enough strength, Rory helped him visit the bathroom on his own- he knew that being deprived of dignity for the past few days had been a blow to the normally so manic Time Lord. It took a while, due to the fact the fever had completely drained his strength, but the Doctor was eventually able to stay conscious for more than an hour at a time, and care for himself.

A couple of hours after Rory and Amy had finally let him go back to his own bedroom, he appeared before them in the control room, dressed in his usual attire, looking for all the universe(s) as if nothing had gone wrong- aside from the slight paleness of his skin. Rory also noticed that his clothes seemed suddenly too big, and hung loosely from his frame. A good meal was what they all needed, he decided.

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed, pulling him to her in a tight embrace. He winced a bit at the contact, his skinny body looking as if it were about to break in two- but smiled warmly and returned the hug. Rory grinned, foolishly, at them, just happy they were both okay, and with him. When the Doctor was finally released, he looked them both up and down, and smiled softly.

"Ponds. Thank you." then, more loudly, "Rory. You look... awful." Rory was about to protest, but the Doctor placed a finger on the man's lips. Amy giggled, and he stopped his attempt, startled.

"When did you sleep last?" he questioned. Then Rory realized. He hadn't slept properly for more than three days."Well, I... Um..." He stammered, defeated (and exhausted) as he was taken by the arms and led to his bedroom by a surprisingly strong Doctor, helped by Amy. "And you, Amelia!" He exclaimed, and with a flourish, pushed them both softly onto the bed and left. Rory turned to his wife.

"Well, that's that, then." he sighed, and they both changed and slid under the covers.

Many hours later, the Ponds appeared at the top of the console steps, happy and rested. The Doctor, tinkering with the console, looked up and grinned manically."Feeling better?" Amy asked, happily.

"Much." the Doctor replied, smiling and jumping to his feet."So," he exclaimed, clapping his hands and rolling onto the balls of his feet, eyes shining.

"Where to next?"

-oOo-

Thanks for reading! Please, please review! It would be good to know someone's read this.


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